America and the Global Economy

“The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.” (Tocqueville quoting George Washington, Democracy in America, Vol 1, Pt 2, Ch 5).

Josef Braml (Trilateral Commission)

Josef Braml is the European Director of the Trilateral Commission – an influential global platform for dialogue between America, Europe, and Asia – and the Secretary General of the German Group. Braml received his doctorate in political science, sociology, and French cultural studies at the University of Passau. He studied languages, economic and cultural studies at the University of Passau and the Université de Nice – Sophia Antipolis and completed a bank apprenticeship. Braml worked at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP) as Managing Editor and Editor of the International Policy Yearbook and Head of the Americas Programme. He has written many books, mostly in German, but his most recent book, co-authored with Mathew Burrows, is World to Come: The Return of Trump and the End of the Old Order (2025).

Mark A. DiPlacido (American Compass)

Mark DiPlacido is a Policy Adviser at American Compass. Before that, he worked on Governor Ron DeSantis’s campaign for President. He has also worked as the Deputy Assistant Trade Representative for Public Affairs at the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, under Ambassador Robert Lighthizer, Heritage Action, and the U.S. Senate. He specializes in issues related to trade and tariffs, financialization labor markets, and broader economic policy. He is a graduate of Yale University. His writings have appeared in Newsweek, the New York Post, and Commonplace, and he has appeared on several media outlets and podcasts, including BBC, NPR, Sirius XM’s “The Briefing,” The Hill, Unherd, and Federalist Society Forums.

Scott Lincicome (Cato Institute)

Scott Lincicome is the vice president of general economics and the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute and the senior visiting lecturer at Duke University Law School. He earned a BA and JD at the University of Virginia. Lincicome spent two decades practicing international trade law at White & Case LLP, where he litigated national and multilateral trade disputes and advised multinational corporations on how to optimize their transactions and business practices consistent with global trade rules and national regulations. He writes on international and domestic economic issues, including international trade, subsidies and industrial policy, manufacturing and global supply chains, and economic dynamism. Capitolism, Lincicome’s regular column for The Dispatch, is go-to reading among free-market advocates.